When pressing fabrics it is known that the higher the temperature and the greater the period for which heating is applied, the better the result produced. However, maintaining high temperature for a prolonged period is extravagant in energy consumption, and also involves a risk of hot spots due to uneven heating, which may cause localised marking of the fabric. Excellent results may also be obtained by the injection of superheated steam into fabric stressed under pressure, but the necessary equipment is cumbersome and expensive, and places the operator in some risk.
The present invention overcomes these difficulties and provides a press, for example, a trouser press, which is efficient, reasonably economical in energy requirement, and has less risk of damaging the fabric or burning the operator than the above methods.